Best of Tilden

Saturday, ~7 miles in 1:??
Yesterday afternoon was a holiday trail run organized by endurance runner extraordinaire Sarah. A group of about 12 people and dogs met up at the head of the Selby Trail at the end of Centennial Dr., where Sarah provided us with Clif bars, maps, and cue sheets for a 6.25 mile loop through the park. She suggested that we start by walking the initial 300 foot climb in the first climb, get to know one another, and then sort ourselves into running groups. We all complied initially, but after about half a mile Mike from Portland decided it was time to pick up the pace, and I followed. We made our way up, and then down, through a picnic area and over some tables. By the second picnic area, we'd gotten lost so we looped around a bit until the rest of the group caught us, then we found South Park Dr. (closed during the winter for newt migration). We didn't see any newts, but we stayed with the group until the next turn, and then we decided to take the high road at the Big Springs Trail instead of the prescribed Quarry Trail. Matthew and the dog Clover decided to join us as we quickly climbed 200 feet, then missed our next turn. No worries, and we just took the road up to the next trail for a big downhill toward Lake Anza. Conversation turned toward the excremental - I was the only one of the three of us who had never thrown up on a run, and Mike had actually (awesomely) thrown up in a unicycle race.

The trail around Lake Anza was rocky and rooty - it was like the football drill where you run through the tires, but with climbing, mud, and a water hazard. Somehow the other guys navigated this quickly without any sprained ankles, and by the time I caught up, they were figuring out that we had gone too far around the lake and had to turn back and do it again. For some reason, running around the lake was just exhausting to me as I carefully watched my steps to avoid slipping into the water or twisting an ankle. Making my way around the lake dug my grave, and the two miles uphill to get back to the start pretty well pushed me in. I let the guys get away, and finished up at my own pace.

With the extra wandering around, I'll call this run about 7 miles, and the elevation ranged up and down between 800-1600 feet. A great run, and a good introduction to the singletrack trails of Tilden.